Algae play key roles in the global carbon cycle, helping sequester significant amounts of carbon. Some algal species can bloom, or become so numerous, that they discolor coastal waters and reduce the amount ...

When the body can't distinguish its right side from its left during development, a child can develop a condition called heterotaxy in which the heart is severely malformed, leading to congenital heart disease. To improve ...

In an important study that may shed light on human ability to adapt to hypoxia, or inadequate levels of oxygen, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have proven that the genome of flies ...

A new study led by University of Notre Dame biologist Nora Besansky suggests that the mosquitoes' immune response to malaria parasites, mediated by a gene called "TEP1," is one of the traits that differ between ...

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have deciphered the genetic code for medulloblastoma, the most common pediatric brain cancer and a leading killer of children with cancer. The genetic "map" is believed ...

A sophisticated new examination of teeth from 11 Neanderthal and early human fossils shows that modern humans are slower than our ancestors to reach full maturity. The finding suggests that our characteristically ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers in New York have identified the receptor of an ancient chimpanzee retrovirus that has been dormant for at least a million years. Now the scientists have resurrected a key part of the virus to ...

The key to solving one of the great puzzles in evolutionary biology, the origin of vertebrates -- animals with an internal skeleton made of bone -- has been revealed in new research from Dartmouth College ...

(PhysOrg.com) -- Individual cancer-causing mutations have a minute effect on tumor growth, increasing the rate of cell division by just 0.4 percent on average, according to new mathematical modeling by scientists ...

Duke researchers have found a surprising parallel between the development of an animal's spinal column and a plant's root system. Both appear to be controlled by a "molecular clock" that governs a regular ...

The apparently random self-assembly of molecular threads into the proteins that make the body work is far less frantic than previously thought, Michigan State University scientists say. That discovery could ...

A parasite estimated to afflict as many as 12 million people worldwide relies on a family of genes that should make it vulnerable to compounds developed to treat cancer and other disorders, researchers at ...

Vaccine manufacturers in India and other developing countries may be able to produce a lower-cost HPV vaccine in spite of the complicated array of patent protections on the technology, say researchers at the Duke Institute ...

Like an unwelcome houseguest or itinerant squatter, the human body louse shows up when times are bad and always makes them worse. Now a multi-institutional team reports that it has sequenced the body louse ...